I cant see how this song is saluting the troops at all unless you consider that they might not have had leave for a long time. ~ Twin2

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LOLmy husband just told me that he likes it when they separate them in their little rooms, and then the judges come in and tell them NO and everybody cries. Then we both leaned our heads back and laughed. We are rotten to the core. ~ Shelayne

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LMAO He was lurking at stalker distance behind her, too. Can you imagine him pep talking himself in the dressing room before the show? Okay, this is it, Stalker Fiddler. My time to shine. Drink me in America. Drink. Me. In. ~ Retrokitten

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The judges are so in the bag for Jessica, youd think her last name was ROMNEY ~ MagUSNRET

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These celebrity freaks are going to really flip when we vote out Obama. ~ [name withheld to spare the poster any embarrassment][It wasn't me :)]

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This AI thread is the most enjoyable, funny, and entertaining thread on FReeRepublic. See you all next season! ~ Aurorales

This thread is the best part of the week for so many of us. I am not able to follow in real time due to work conflicts but there were so many times that Id start peeking at the thread on my phone en route to home cracking up in a cab or on the bus at your hysterical comments. You are all a very special bunchwitty and warmand Im so glad to call you FRiends.~ Miss Didi

In a career spanning over two decades, Carey has sold more than 200 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time.

Career

In 2012, Carey was ranked second on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Women in Music". Aside from her commercial accomplishments, Carey has won five Grammy Awards, 17 World Music Awards, 11 American Music Awards, and 31 Billboard Music Awards. Referred to as the "songbird supreme" by the Guinness World Records, she is famed for her five-octave vocal range, power, melismatic style [the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like "Vision of Love"] and signature use of the whistle register. In November 2011, it was reported that Carey's net worth was valued at more than $500 million.

Even though Carey has only appeared on Idol once (that I know of), her name is constantly dropped on the show, either by Randy Jackson ("I recorded that track with the great Mariah Carey!") or from deluded contestants who believe they're the next Carey incarnation:

Sean Daly of St. Petersburg Times wrote, "Depending on how you feel about public humiliation, the best/worst parts of American Idol are the audition shows, which normally break down into three distinct parts:(1) The Talented Kids.(2) The Weird Kids.(3) The Mariahs."

Daly further commented, "The Mariahs are the hardest ones to watch, mainly because most of them think they're reeeaaally good. The poor, disillusioned hopefuls plant themselves in front of judges then proceed to stretch, break and mutilate every note of a song, often Mariah's Hero, a tune that has ruined more throats than smoker's cough."

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Beginnings

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Mariah Angela Carey was born in Huntington, New York, on March 27, 1970. Her father, Alfred Roy, was of African American and Venezuelan (mixed-race) descent, while her mother, Patricia (née Hickey), is of white Irish descent. The last name Carey was the product of a name-change by her Venezuelan grandfather after emigrating to New York. . .

After the pair's elopement, Patricia's family disowned her, due to marrying a man of color. Carey later explained that growing up, she felt a notion of neglect from her maternal family, a mark that affected her greatly: "So later I was like, 'Well, where does this leave me? Am I a bad person?' You know. It's still not that common to be a multi-racial person, but I'm happy with the combination of things that I am." When Carey was three years old, her parents divorced due to the increasingly strenuous nature of their marriage. As the years passed, Carey would grow apart from her father, and would later stop seeing him altogether.

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Personal Life

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Carey was married to record producer (and svengali) Tommy Mottola from 1993-1997. She met actor/comedian Nick Cannon in 2008. They married almost immediately.

On April 30, 2011, the couple's third wedding anniversary, Carey gave birth to fraternal twins via C-section.

In an interview, Carey stated that her pregnancy was very difficult, she suffered from high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, and gestational diabetes before giving birth to the twins, she also said: "I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to walk properly again, It was a huge strain. I would sit and then someone would have to help me up. I couldn't go even to the loo by myself. It was just like, 'What are we doing? Are we going to the hospital?' No, I'm gonna stick it out, I'm gonna keep taking this medicine to keep these babies in... I made it to 35 weeks and then the doctor said it wasn't safe anymore".

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Judging Experience:

None. However, she can throw a ball just like Obama.

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American Idol Appearances:

She was guest mentor for the appropriately titled "Mariah Carey Week" in 2008. Carey also performed live on the results show.

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4
posted on 01/16/2013 6:01:37 AM PST
by silent_jonny
("We love Him because He first loved us." -- 1 John 4:19)

Keith Lionel Urban was born in Whangarei, New Zealand (October 26, 1967), but later moved and lived with his parents in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia.

Urban in 1971, age 4

By age six, Urban was already thinking about getting into the music business. He began learning the techniques at age seven and began winning young singing contests by age eight.

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Career

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In 1992, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he found work as a guitarist for Brooks & Dunn and can be seen backing Alan Jackson in his music video for "Mercury Blues". Later, Urban formed The Ranch, a three-piece group that released their self-named album in 1997 that included "Walk In The Country". Urban disbanded the group to pursue a solo career in 1998.

Since then, Urban has released seven studio albums (all multi-platinum), had fourteen #1 singles, earned four Grammy Awards, been named Male Vocalist of The Year three consectutive times by the CMA (2004-2006), and in 2012, after 20 years in Nashville, Urban was inducted into The Grand Ole Opry.

The Opry honor came in the form of a black duffle bag brought on stage [by co-host Vince Gill] at Keith's annual All for the Hall benefit show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena .... Visibly confused, the "For You" singer unzipped the bag to find a WSM/Grand Ole Opry microphone stand.

"I'm shocked," Keith said, after Vince gave the official Opry invitation to his friend. "What a huge honor and how beautiful to have this happen tonight!

"I will always remember the first time I played the Opry," the singer-songwriter continued, "seeing this stand and standing in the circle was an extraordinarily surreal moment. So this right here is just a whole other stratosphere! Thank you from the bottom of my heart."

Urban met actress Nicole Kidman at a Hollywood event honoring Australians, in January 2005, but they reportedly didn't begin dating until 6 months later. Kidman and Urban were married on Sunday, 25 June 2006, at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel on the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly in Sydney.

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[While struggling in Nashville through the 90s], Urban became a frequent user of cocaine. After reaching a personal nadir in 1998, he became determined to give up the habit and checked into Cumberland Heights, a treatment center in Nashville

On 19 October 2006, Urban checked himself into the Betty Ford Center in California. On 20 October, Urban issued a statement saying: "I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me. One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have." On 18 January 2007, Urban announced his completion of rehab and his plans to go on tour to promote his new album...

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In 2010 Urban did what apparently all celebrities are required to do: confess their sins to Oprah.

The country star admitted he was addicted to "everything" including alcohol, but mostly cocaine.

You cant [get clean] for somebody," Keith told Oprah Winfrey. "I couldnt do this just for her, but to see love in action, to that degree, in that time, in that way, Id never experienced anything like that."

Since entering rehab in October, Keith has stayed clean. He had been through rehab before, but this time he "surrendered" the outcome.

[There] was a huge hole in my life that was going to be filled by the right thing eventually or it was always going to be filled by the wrong thing, he said. Ultimately for me, [the right thing is] love. Nic has taught me so much and brought so much to my life and opened my eyes in so many ways.

On 7 January 2008, Nicole Kidman confirmed she and Urban were expecting their first child together. Kidman's publicist said "the couple are thrilled and cannot wait." Kidman gave birth to their first child, a daughter, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban, in 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. She weighed 6 lbs, 7.5 oz. On his website, Urban stated,

"Earlier this morning Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of you today."

In 2010, Urban and Kidman had a second daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, via surrogate at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital. The baby is biologically Urban and Kidman's.

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Judging Experience:

Urban was a judge (or "coach"--same thing) on the Australian version of The Voice for one season. He jumped that ship to join Idol.

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American Idol Appearances:

Urban performed with winner Kris Allen on the 2009 Idol finale.

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5
posted on 01/16/2013 6:02:45 AM PST
by silent_jonny
("We love Him because He first loved us." -- 1 John 4:19)

Her Wikipedia bio is surprisingly long for someone who's career is only three years old. The gist of it is, Minaj has become as famous for her obnoxious behavior and multi-colored wigs as she has for her musical ability. Maybe more so.

Onika Tanya Maraj was born December 8, 1982 in Saint James, a suburb of Trinidad and Tobago's capital city Port of Spain to parents Carol and Robert Maraj, an accounting clerk/gospel singer and an employee at American Express, respectively. Her parents are of mixed Indian and Afro-Trinidadian ancestry and she lived in Saint James with her grandmother ... Her mother would occasionally visit, and one day, when Minaj was five, her mother picked her up to move to the Queens borough of New York City. According to Minaj, her father drank heavily, took drugs, and once tried to kill her mother by setting the house on fire.

After high school Maraj pursued acting in NYC while working odd jobs.

[Onika] was fired from Red Lobster because of her discourteousness to customers. She stated she had been fired from "at least fifteen jobs" for similar antics

Imagine that.

Acting didn't work out, so she turned her attention to music, trying to find her way through the world of underground rap. Somewhere along the way, a producer changed her name to "Nicki Minaj" and she stuck with it.

Career

In 2009, Minaj was featured on a compilation album We Are Young Money which became a Billboard Top 10 hit and led to more high profile collaborations, such as "Up Out My Face" with future Idol co-judge Mariah Carey.

[Her debut album] Pink Friday was released on November 19, 2010. Minaj became the first female artist to be included on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List and the first female artist to top the chart unaccompanied since 2002. In October 2010, Minaj became the first artist to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously ... The album gained Platinum certification in the United States a month after the release.

You can view Minaj's videos HERE, but most of them are marked "explicit" so click at your own risk.

The rest of her bio is strange and sordid (the feud with Carey, questions about her sexuality and her multiple personalities). Read that at your own risk too.

Judging Experience:

None. But as you might have guessed, that doesn't stop Minaj from offering her opinion on any and every subject. And, as is fashionable these days, she responds to any form of criticism with either violence (Mariah Carey claimed she threatened to shoot her (source)) or by screaming RACISM!

"I understand you really wanted to keep your job [on Idol] but take that up with the producers," she continued. "I would have sent Bob Dylan to a cornfield??? Steven, you haven't seen me judge one single solitary contestant yet! That's a racist comment Lets make [Steven] a shirt that says 'No Coloreds Allowed' then escort him down 2 Barbara Walters so he can tell [her] how he was threatened w/guns."

Racist?

Tyler went on to say his "American Idol" crew, which included black judge Randy Jackson and Latina Jennifer Lopez, would have given someone like Dylan the green light.

Is the pop culture world condemning Minaj for her cruel comments and incendiary accusation?

Nope.

Is Tyler slinking away and apologizing for offending Minaj?

Yup.

It's standard operating procedure in the Age of Obama. The race card can fit virtually any situation, and you don't need facts to back it up. Chris Matthews can call Mitt Romney supporters racist without proof and keep his gig. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns can savage the Tea Party as racist without proof and retain his standing in film circles.

So when Minaj fired off her angry retort, she knew she would face no backlash. In fact, she could have predicted Tyler, a rock legend, would quickly apologize for doing nothing wrong.

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American Idol Appearances:

None.

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6
posted on 01/16/2013 6:03:55 AM PST
by silent_jonny
("We love Him because He first loved us." -- 1 John 4:19)

In addition to the three new judges, Idol will also be adding three new ways for would-be singers to audition. These will allow the show to hunt down the talent instead of being stuck with whoever shows up.

The producers are likely altering the way contestants can audition for several reasons. It could be an effort to crack down on all the talentless hopefuls who try and get on TV for laughs. Its also an effective way to canvas every corner of the country to try and unearth real talent, no matter how remote.

I. Nominate An Idol

If someone is too shy or insecure to audition on their own, their friends and family can audition them secretly.

A video of the nominee singing solo or a cappella can submitted via an online registry. If they are chosen, a film crew will surprise the prospective candidates on location. Its a way for Idol watchers to nominate talent from their own backyard and have a hand in the process.

II. The Audition Bus Tour

If you can't make it to the auditions, the auditions will come to you.

Provides a two week window to submit one video of yourself singing a pre-approved song from Idol. This allows a singer to choose what he or she believes is their best performance without worrying about choking in front of the judges.

Wife and I will be watching tonight, but can’t say for how long. We are not very enthused about DISASTER MINAJ being a judge and also think going back to 4 judges is the second worst move (after hiring Minaj) that Idol has ever made.

We will probably give it a couple shows and if the antics are too stupid then Idol will be off our TV for good.

So glad you are back. It was a long year but here we are. I am hoping and praying that American Idol still has the mojo and can at least beat The Voice and every show on Wednesday night. We shall see!!!!

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